Aug

AUG. (e) Ε Υ Α Ν Θ Α Σ 5. 400. 1. 50. 9. 1. 200. (f) Λ Α Τ Ε Ι Ν Ο Σ (g) Τ Ε Ι Τ Α Ν 300. 5. 10. 300. 1. 50. (h) Λ Α Μ Π Ε Τ Ι Σ (i) Ο Ν Ι Κ Η Τ Η Σ (k) Κ Α Κ Ο Σ Ο Δ Η Γ Ο Σ (l) Α Ρ Ν Ο Υ Μ Ε 1. 100. 50. 70. 400. 40. 5. the most High, the Lord, the holy God. This last Name could have been invented only to shew the vanity of all that pains which has been taken in this Enquiry, since the number 666 is found in Names, which are most sacred and most opposite to Antichrist. The wisest and the safest way is, to be silent with respect to both this Name and Character.

I may say the same almost of the time when Antichrist will appear. We know certainly that he will come before the consummation of Ages, and will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ. But all those who have attempted to fix the year of his Appearance, have only discovered their ignorance and rashness. There have been 2 Thess. ii 1, 2.Impostors ever since S. Paul’s time, who have terrified Believers by persuading them that the Day of the Lord was at hand. To encourage these People, S. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, in these terms, We beseech you, Brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him, that ye be not soon shaken in Mind neither by Spirit, nor by Word, nor by Letter, as from us, as that the Day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that Day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition; who oppos- eth and exalteth himself above all that is called God. S. John in his first Epistle says, Every Spirit that confesseth 1 John iv. 3.not that Jesus is come in the Flesh, is not of God; this is that Spirit of Antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the World. The Hereticks of that time were true signs of Antichrist, but this still shews that the Christians of that time expected the coming of the Messiah.

The same Opinions and Dispositions are observable in the generality of the Fathers of the first Ages. The Churches of Vienne and Lions in Gaul¹, seeing the violence of the persecution, which was set a-foot by Marcus Aurelius, believed they then beheld the Preludes to the persecution of Antichrist. An old ecclesiastical Author, called Judas², who lived under the Emperor Severus, asserted, that Antichrist would very soon appear; because the Persecution was then carrying on with great heat against the Church. Tertullian, who lived at the same time³, and S. Cyprian⁴, who flourished soon after, never questioned but that the coming of Antichrist was very near. S. Hilary⁵ observing the progress of Arianism, believed he saw those Signs which were to be the fore-runners of Antichrist. S. Basil the Great⁶, S. Ambrose⁷, S. Jerom⁸, S. Martin⁹, S. Chrysostom¹⁰, and Gregory the Great¹¹, were of Opinion, that the end of the World was at hand, and that the coming of Antichrist could not be far off.

After the tenth Age, which concluded the sixth millenary, according to their opinion who reckoned the Birth of Jesus Christ to have happened about the five thousandth year of the world, people began to get the better of that apprehension they had been under, of the conclusion of the world, which was to be according to the tradition of the Antients, after the duration of six thousand years. They began to build larger churches, and larger edifices. S. Jerome’s translation of the Scriptures, which allowed the world to have existed not above four thousand years before Jesus Christ, contributed likewise to persuade men, that the last period of the World, and the coming of Antichrist, were not so near. Notwithstanding this did not hinder some from attempting once more, to fix the year of Antichrist’s appearance. The Council of Florence assembled in 1105 condemned Fluentius Bishop of that City, for maintaining that Antichrist was then already born. Abbot Joachim, who lived in the twelfth Age, pretended that Antichrist was to appear in the sixtieth year of his time. Arnaud de Ville-neuve said, Antichrist would come in 1326. Peter Dailly was of opinion, that according to his observations He must appear in 1789. Cardinal de Cusa in 1730 or 1734. John Pico at Mirandola in 1994. Francis Melet in 1530, or 1540. John of Paris in 1560. Jerom Cardan in 1800. Vincent Ferrier, who lived in the fifteenth Age, wrote to Pope Benedict the XIII. that Antichrist would appear in a very little time, and that an holy Hermit had inform’d him nine years before, that this Enemy of God was then born. The event has already confuted the generality of these predictions: And we may affirm without rashness, that the rest are no better grounded, nor at all more certain than the preceding ones.

There is a Tradition which seems to be received among the Antients, that Antichrist should be born of some Jewish Family¹², and should come out of the Tribe of Dan. In which sense these words of JeremiahJerem. viii. 16. are explained¹³, The snorting of his horses are heard from Dan: the whole Land of his strong ones; for they are come and have drowned the Land and all that is in it. The most ancient Commentators upon the Revelations, such as Aretas, Bede, Primasius, Rupert, Haimo, and many others are of opinion, that S. John’s omission of the name of Dan in his enumeration of the Rev. vii. 5, & seq.Tribes of Israel, proceeds from the knowledge he had, that Antichrist should be born of this Tribe. And how should he come from this Tribe, since the Jews dwell no longer in Judæa, or at least are no longer Masters of this Province? Why he will come, say the Fathers, from the other side of the Euphrates, from Babylonia, where some suppose that the ten Tribes, and in particular that of Dan, subsists still intire. This opinion is followed by almost all those, who have written since S. Jerom¹⁴, in whose time it was very common in the Church.

As to the Father of Antichrist, the world is not agreed. Some think¹⁵ he will be ingendered of a Devil and some very corrupt Woman; others tell us, that Antichrist will be a Devil incarnate and not a Man. Unus de hominibus in quo Satanas habitaturus sit corporaliter, says S. Jerom¹⁶. Hilary the Deacon¹⁷ thought, that as Jesus Christ was incarnate, and proved his Divinity by his Miracles; so the Devil will appear in Antichrist, and endeavour to persuade the world that he is God, by working false Miracles. And in like manner as Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin, says S. Hippolytus, will Antichrist boast that he has derived his Birth from a Mother, who never had any Conversation with Man: But whereas the Son of God assumed real Flesh, Antichrist, as this Author says, will take only the image or phantom of Flesh. It is best to follow the Opinion of S. Chrysostom¹⁸, Theodoret, Theophylact, and many others, that Antichrist will be a real Man, and an Agent of the Devil in exercising all his cruelty and malice against the Faithful.

They who tell us that the Mother of Antichrist will be the most debauched and most impure of all Woman-kind, or that he will be born in Incest committed between the Father and his Daughter, or the Son and his Mother, or lastly between a Man and Woman who are both obliged to Celibacy by vows and solemn engagements, cannot maintain this Opinion without falling into a kind of Contradiction; for how will Antichrist prove his Mother’s Virginity, if her original is so polluted and corrupt, and she is so infamous in the assert, that he will be of Jewish extraction, if he is to be born of a Father and a Mother both solemnly engaged in the monastick Profession, which, as is very well known, is not in use among the Hebrews? It is true, some suppose that this Woman will make an outward profession of Retirement, Piety, and Virginity, and will so well conceal her ignominious course of Life, as to persuade all the world, that the Son, who will be born of her, was produced in her after a supernatural manner. But where will she find persons credulous enough to believe her upon her bare Word? The birth of any Man of a pure Virgin is not a thing that People are apt easily to credit. All the Authority of the Prophets both of the old and new Testament, and all the Miracles wrought by Jesus Christ, and related in the Gospel, were no more than necessary to convince us of Mary’s Virginity, after the Conception and Birth of our Saviour.

It remains now to examine the Dominion of Antichrist. As it is supposed that he will be born in Babylonia, it is said, that he will there lay the Foundations of his Empire¹⁹, and that the Jews will be the first, who will declare²⁰ for him, acknowledge his Dominion, and enjoy the principal Imployments in his Government. These he will win upon by his delusions, his caresses and false miracles, and by all the appearances of goodness, piety and clemency; so that this unhappy People will take him for the Messiah; and will flatter themselves with expectations of seeing the Kingdom of Israel restored by his means to its former Splendor.

As soon as Antichrist shall appear, he will begin with attacking the Roman Empire, which will be then divided among ten powerful Kings according to these words of Dan. vii. 7, 8, 9, 24, 25.Daniel, which are applied to the Kingdom of Antichrist, The fourth Beast which I saw was dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly; it had great iron teeth, it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: It was not like any other Beasts that I have seen; it had ten horns, and as I considered these ten horns, I saw another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns pluckt up by the roots. The Beast here with ten Horns, according to the generality of Interpreters, is the Roman Empire. The little Horn is Antichrist; the three Horns which fell before it, are three Monarchs, who will be overcome by the arms of this Enemy to God.

Daniel describes these three Monarchs in Dan. xi. 42, 43.another Place, He shall stretch forth his Hand also upon the Countries, and the Land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have Power over the Treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Lybians and Ethiopians shall be at his Steps. These are the three Kingdoms whereby the Fall of the Roman Empire will begin; their Subjection shall draw on the Ruin of all the rest. We do not warrant these applications, but relate only what the Ancients have said of them.

After he has subdued Egypt, Ethiopia and Lybia, he will march against Jerusalem, which he will make an easy conquest of, and there establish the seat of his Empire. He will be then informed, See Ezek. xxxviii, xxxix.that the Kings Gog and Magog are coming to oppose him, he will give them battle and without difficulty defeat them in the midst of Palestine. The whole Country will be enriched with their Spoils. After this Antichrist seeing himself master of the Eastern and Western Empire, will turn all his application towards the destruction of Christ’s Kingdom, and the persecution of good Men. He shall exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of 2 Thess. ii. 4.God: In the Temple of Jerusalem which he will rebuild. Nay, there are some of the Ancients²¹, who believe that he will be seated in the Churches of Christians, and there receive the adorations of great numbers of Apostates, who will renounce the Faith of Jesus Christ. Then God will give his Spirit to his two witnesses, who are thought to be Enoch and Elias, they shall Rev. xi. 2, 3, 4.prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days cloathed in Sackcloth. —— And when they shall have finished their testimony, the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, shall make War against them, and shall overcome them and kill them. And their dead shall lie in the street of the great City, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. But after three days and an half the Spirit of Life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them: And they heard a great voice from Heaven saying unto them, Come up hither; and they ascended up to Heaven in a Cloud. The Scripture does not particularly tell us what the Duration will be of Antichrist’s kingdom; but in several places it seems to Rev. xv. 2, 3. Dan. vii. 25. & xii. 11.allow three years and an half for the continuance of his Persecutions. At least it assigns three years and an half for the Persecutions of those, who are looked upon as Figures of Antichrist.

The Righteous under the persecution of Antichrist will retire to the Mount of Olives²², when they will be soon attacked by this Enemy to God. Then they will cry unto the Lord, and he will send Jesus Christ to deliver them. He will descend from Heaven attended by his Angels, and preceded by a flame which nothing will be able to extinguish. The Angels will give up the army of the wicked into the hands of the righteous, who will make so great a slaughter of them, from the third hour of the day until the Evening, that their Blood shall flow like a torrent in the Valley. Antichrist will come as far as the top of Mount Olivet²³, and there will be put to death in his own tent, and upon his own throne, without receiving the least assistance from any one. Which is agreeable to these words of Daniel, which are applied Dan. ix. 45.to Antichrist, He shall plant the tabernacles of his Palace between the Seas and the glorious holy Mountain, yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him. They who would know more particularly what is said of Antichrist , may consult Malvenda the Dominican De Antichristo, and our Dissertation on the same Subject, placed before the Epistle to the Galatians.

The Mussulmen as well as the Jews and Christians, expect another Christ. The Mussulmen call him Daggial, or Deggial, from a name which signifies properly an Impostor, or a Liar; and they hold, that their Prophet Mahomet taught one of his Disciples, whose name was Tamini-Al Dari, every thing relating to Antichrist; and upon the faith of this man they tell us that Antichrist must come at the end of the world, that he will make his entry into Jerusalem like Jesus Christ upon an Ass; but that Christ, who as they will have it, is not yet dead, will come at his second advent to encounter him, and that after having conquered him, he will then die indeed²⁴. That the Beast described by St. John in the Revelations, will appear with Antichrist, and make war against the Saints. That Imam Mahadi, who remains concealed among the Mussulmen will then shew himself, join Jesus Christ, and with him engage Daggial, after which they will unite the Christians and Mussulmen, and of the two Religions make but one. After this manner do these people pervert the truths of Christianity, and attribute those promises to themselves, which the Apostles made to the Jewish Rom. ix. 24. xi. 26. 2 Cor. iii. 16.Nation, viz. that at the end of the world they shall be united with the Church, and acknowledge the Saviour whom they crucified.

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